"Life's Too Short" Redux

Not too much goin' on over here, just chuggin' along. I promise the next post will include photos and descriptions of adventures of late, but in the meantime, in continuation of my "life's too short" ponderings from last time, I give you...

An Incomplete an Unordered List of Things for Which I Am Thankful

* Chocolate
* Wine
* The breeze that comes with rainy season
* Wheat bread
* The sun’s rays poking through after a rainstorm
* My faith
* Hilarious cultural and linguistic misunderstandings
* The people who take real human emotions and put them to music (aka. Good
musicians)
* The people who write lyrics that are so terrible, but in earnest, that
you have no choice but to laugh (aka. Bad musicians, or everyone on
the Awesomely Bad Rap playlist we love so much over here)
* Lizards (I never would have said THAT before Peace Corps, but they eat a lot
of the bugs that I am NOT so thankful for. I could do without the piles of
poop they leave everywhere, though. Particularly in my shoes.)
* The postal system, which allows things like Zone Bars and Junior Mints to find
their way to me from across the world
* Everyone behind those packages of goodness (thank you)
* My puppy dog and all of his loyal kind
* Sunblock
* Jordan’s laugh
* Will’s advice
* WAJ in general
* Impromptu dance parties
* Cross-country dance parties (Jojo’s and my tradition of picking a song and a
time and breaking it down together from 100’s of kilometres away)
* 24-hour convenience stores (oh how I miss you)
* (And a note on the previous) Having ANYWHERE to even CONCEIVABLY go after dark
* Coffee
* My family
* The handful of people you meet on your journey who become like family (hold on
for dear life)
* Financial aid
* U-pick fruit orchards
* Cooling systems of all kinds (air conditioners, fans, misters, you name it,
I’m thankful for it)
* Mosquito nets
* Baby wipes
* Full gas tanks
* Photographs
* Whatever it is inside of me that (sometimes) lets me embrace getting caught in
a rainstorm and makes me dance it out
* My love for singing (though often badly)
* Angry chick rock (gotta indulge in it now and then)
* Will’s verb tense usage (I swear the kid doesn’t even know if he’s currently
living in the present)
* Books that are so good I want to read them again and again
* Books on my shelf that I’ve yet to read (some will likely disappoint, but
others will hopefully fall into the former category, and that possibility is
something I’m thankful for)
* Showers
* Nicknames
* The ability to wear trousers without being seen as a prostitute (aka. NOT in
my village)
* Ice water at the end of my 15k walk into town
* Laughing until I cry
* Crying until I laugh
* Solar power
* Text messaging
* Surprises (well, maybe not all of em, but you know, the good ones)
* Extra-strength Tylenol (so versatile! so effective!)
* Amazon.com
* Those instances in the village when I take the time to do something that makes
me feel like a girl (Jordan recently reassured me that I’m allowed to be one –
sometimes)
* The fact that each day brings with it a new opportunity to be better
* Water-resistant materials
* Honesty
* Half Dome
* Fireflies
* Christmas lights
* Icicles
* Snow Days (or in Malawi, Rain Days)
* Unconditional love
* My legs and feet and their ability to take me places
* My son, who will never know how much it means to me that he drops by just to
chat or help me with things
* The ocean, and other sights that remind you just how small you are
* Rain runoff from my roof that obviates my need for a boarhole trip
* Back massages
* Common experiences
* The comfort that some things never change
* Any and all of the places I’d call home
* Eccentricities
* Gifts that show someone really knows you
* The smell of cookies baking
* Silver dollars
* Star charts
* Sailboats
* Sharpies
* Alliteration, apparently
* Small victories
* Road trips
* Cosmic timing
* Motivation
* Happy mistakes
* The way you can talk with the people who know you best

I could go on and on, but I think that's a pretty good group. Dare you to make your own - it feels pretty good =)